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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Thoughts aAbout Levers

This post is going to be a bit rambling as I try to capture some thoughts I've had recently, so bear with me.

I was talking to some new guys at class and trying to think of things that were kind of over arching concepts they should keep in mind during class. It got me thinking about simple machines, levers, wheels, screws, that kind of thing. The lever gets a lot of credit in jiujitsu, but the wheel and the screw are big players as well as far as motion goes. As an example my strategy when dealing with very large people is to act as a wheel, or more specifically a marble. I make myself into a tight ball under them and roll myself around until I can pop out from under them. Screws make an appearance in many grip breaking techs and in finishing of subs like ankle locks and even the kimura. Thinking about simple machines when you are looking at your technique is a good way to get inside the fundamental mechanics of the move.

Concentrating on simple things like maintaining shoulder pressure and using my entire body to move people has really started to make a lot of things work for me that didn't before. My guard passing is getting better every time as are my sweeps.I still feel a little weak with the subs sometimes though. I can get to the triangle or the armbar almost at will on some people, and just can't finish it. I'm not as frustrated about that as I used to be and am comfortable just bailing to a different sub or moving to a sweep continuously until I hit something. That means I'm spending a lot of time out positioning the bigger guys and not so much time finishing them.

Most importantly I feel like a lot of things are becoming natural and instinctive for me, like keeping pressure on when I'm passing guard and scooping up the legs for the under pass when the opportunity is there. Everything just seems to be fitting together really nicely and for once my ability to perform is outstripping my ability to explain. Usually I think through whatever I'm doing step by step as I do it and can easily break it down for other people. But several times tonight I just did something and had no idea how really. I just did it because it was "Right".I want more of that.

I'm also holding off the wrestlers a hell of a lot better now than I used to. My open guard is... well... like I alluded to previously you need Elephants to get past my guard..